Zom-coms may be a one-film genre, but it should already be your favorite. Street sat down with Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and stars Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Nick Frost (Ed) to talk about zombies, genitals and Coldplay's Chris Martin.
Nick, I heard that you kept your genitals shaved during filming. Is that true?
Nick Frost: Yeah, it is. I like to get in and get my hands a bit dirty, so to speak. We figured out among the three of us that Ed would be sweaty and scratchy. So to get that, I thought it would be a nice idea to shave everything off ... As it turns out, Ed didn't itch as much as we thought he would. It was actually fairly pleasurable and not so itchy.
Edgar Wright: You put a lot of talc on, which inspired the moniker "Ghost Cock."
Did you include any of your friends in the movie?
EW: We had a core of about 40 proper actors or stuntmen or physical performers or mimes -- even amputee stuntmen, of which there's actually a small community in the wake of films like Saving Private Ryan ... We did this show in the UK called Spaced -- a sitcom. It has a bit of a cult following and a following on the net. We put word out saying, "Would you like to be a zombie? We won't be able to pay you, but you'll be able to see yourself on the big screen covered in blood."
Simon Pegg: Some zombie romances did actually spark up on set.
EW: Two zombies had sex on the Winchester set.
NF: I'd pay for a video of that.
EW: That's going to be on the DVD. Two zombies dry humping on the pool table.
How did you get the Chris Martin cameo?
SP: He's a friend of ours. He had just come back off tour and I just gave him a call and said, "Do you want to do this little bit in the film?" He gets criticized for the fact that he works for OxFam and does Fair Trade stuff. I just said, "Look, take a piss at yourself a little bit and pretend to support this charity ZombAid."
Has George Romero seen the movie?
EW: We haven't actually met George Romero yet, but we spoke to him on the phone many times. He's been so cool. Not only did he give us a press quote, but every interview he's done about Land of the Dead people ask him about Shaun and he really bigs it up. He says it's his favorite zombie film apart from his own ... We're like a pig in shit.
What did you guys think of the Dawn of the Dead remake?
EW: It felt like a needless MTV-style refit for people with attention deficit disorder. In a slightly cynical way, I think somebody watched 28 Days Later and said, "Let's do that." How can the Dawn of the Dead remake be 10 times more expensive and an hour shorter? It's like 80 minutes, max ... It's sad that people think, "Nobody will buy slow zombies any more." We're pleased that we stuck to our guns and stuck with the slombies.
SP: With the fast zombies, they have to be running through the shot. You can't share screen time with them. The slow zombies, you get to be in the same frame with them for a while before they catch up with you. Eventually, they'll get you. Like the tortoise following the hare, it'll come up and bite you when you're asleep ... Why hurry? The slow zombies are like a pint of Guinness. It takes a long time to pour. The fast zombies are like Bud Light.
There's a Resident Evil 2 now.
EW: I know. With a shot of her with a bath towel on the poster. "How are we going to get the kids in? Remember the bit where she's almost naked?"
NF: They're on pushbikes now, to make the zombies slightly faster.
EW: I think there are bungee- jumping zombies in Resident Evil 2.
There are the dogs.
EW: The zombie dog was good.
SP: Then there were Lasers. Then a lot of heavy metal.
EW: That's one thing we really wanted to avoid: the horror film that ends with the Nu-Metal song. We were so pleased to go as far away as possible with possibly the gayest song ever, "You're My Best Friend" by Queen. What's that song that's always on the end? Drowning Pool? The one that goes, "Let the bodies hit the floor." ... I never want to hear that song ever again. Any Drowning Pool fans here?
Any plans for a Shaun sequel?
EW: Unlikely, because most of the characters are dead ... We want to do a sequel in spirit, if not in story, that's another Simon and Nick vehicle ... That's more following in the spirit of people we admire, like Wes Anderson, Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson. People who create their own universe.
SP: More a kind of brand, a way of looking at things.
EW: More Rushmore to Bottle Rocket than Fierce Creatures to A Fish Called Wanda. I'm slagging off a lot of films today. I feel bad.
Will you work more in America now?
EW: I suppose we just have to do the right thing. Certainly the thing we're writing next will be UK-set.
NF: I'm off as soon as I can.
EW: You're doing Boa vs. Python 2 ... Tarantino said the other day that there is no British film industry because as soon as someone makes a good film, they fuck off to Hollywood. Sometimes you get really good English actors who end up being Third Henchman from the left in Gone in 60 Seconds.
SP: It's a dream to go to Hollywood if only because it's so prolific ... It's not like it is at home. You have to fight to get films made in Britain. It's not a question of thinking, "Now I want to be in a blockbuster."
EW: But if you got to be Third Reporter at your beck and call, you'd do it?
SP: Like fuckin' A I would.
